1987Comanche

I used a Melling high volume oil pump on my Beretta a few years ago and have been pretty happy with it. Cold oil pressure went from 40psi to 60psi and hot went from 20 to 40.

Isn't it just a standard GM design (like the steering column, door locks, etc)? It looks a lot like the one in my '84 Suburban.

Can you post a pic of the factory setup? I have the tow hooks on my junkyard wish list and wondered what the PITA factor was on installing them.

I did the gauge cluster swap a few weeks ago and had the exact same thought about swapping odometer rolls. Unfortunately the speedometer assemblies are completely different (I disassembled them both...the number font is even a different size) so there's no way you can swap rolls In fact the only part of the cluster assemblies that looks interchangeable is the plastic housing they're all situated in. I rolled my new odo forward to match what was in the truck, from 137K to 196K. I found pulling the trip odo off the assembly and putting the rest in a vise worked fairly well. Pulling the C clip and finding the sweet spot where the numbers will roll is a PITA though.

I used a vacuum bleeder on my '87 5 speed. It worked great! I had to replace the slave cyl (external) and not the master.

I get about 19MPG overall. Lots of hills here and I drive foot to the floor most of the time.

I finished this cluster swap last night and, unfortunately, found out that my tach/dwell meter died sometime in the past few months. I ended up rotating the pot for the tach as far clockwise as it would go and I'm reading about 700RPM hot idle (4 cyl). That seems about right since I remember reading somewhere that hot idle is 650RPM with no A/C. I have to check speedo calibration today and may have to adjust the needle but it all works and the odo has been reset to the correct mileage. Do I need to lock the pot in place with some fresh paint or will it stay in location on it's own? Also if anyone is looking for a good U Pull It LKQ opened one in Greenville, SC 2 weeks ago. I scored a rust free tan door (perfect match) and a set of Laredo door panels along with my cluster.

I'll have to do a compression test and check it out. Warm engine or cold? I did check the timing with a timing light and it wasn't jumping all over the place so I think the chain is ok. Granted I couldn't disconnect the electronic spark advance (my '93 Chevy pickup had a plug for the EST control) but I would think that I'd see the pointer dancing around regardless. It is noisy at idle but, then again, the 150 isn't a really refined engine from a NVH perspective to start with.

It's 40 miles round trip (1 qt oil consumption every 500 miles) and I had the valve cover off last year to replace the lifters & pushrods (had a bad lifter). It wasn't excessively gunked up but it did have hunks of carbon, etc inside. It looked like the PO was bad about routine maintenance. She just turned 196K. What's the acceptable limit on a compression test? Is it best with the engine warmed up or cold?

When I first bought my MJ I had oil leaking out of every orafice the truck had. After fixing the PCV system and replacing a lot of gaskets most of the leaks have dried up (still minor seepage from rear main and oil pan gasket). Since that time I've been watching the oil consumption and it seems a bit high. In an average week (40 mile daily commute, highway @ 75mph) I end up using 12-16oz of oil. The engine does have enough blowby that I have to replace the air filter every 8-10K but, other than that she runs fine. I wanted to see what kind of oil consumption is considered typical or at least average for the little AMC 150.

I did this exact project to my '87 about 2 months ago. You have to pick up power for the relay from the connector under the LH headlight (fat red wire). That connector also has the feed from the dash switch (black with a green tracer if I remember correctly...check the colors on the switch in the dash). The relay will need a new ground unless you use the complete donor harness but that's easy enough. You'll also need the front part of the harness from the donor truck (the only extra wiring I found in the front was for the dual tone horn). The fog light outputs are directly from the relay so if the relay isn't there the connectors aren't either. The relay is located behind the LH headlight and there's a pre drilled hole ready for one if it isn't factory installed. The cleanest way to install it is to grab the entire front harness from the donor truck. It will plug in to the connector behind the LH headlight and controls the headlights, turn signals, and fog lights...but in my case I couldn't maneuver the plug out from behind the header panel. I pulled the harness and stripped what I needed and it worked out fine. I couldn't justify pulling the header panel solely for the purpose of being 100% OE correct in wiring. As it is you can troubleshoot the fog lights with the factory manual because it's wired correctly...I just missed 2 pins on the connector.

Can someone post a pic of the pot for adjusting the tach? I was thinking of swapping my '87 cluster to one with a tach but, when I pulled one out at the JY I didn't see any obvious means of adjustment. My '87 is the 4cyl and every full cluster I've seen is for the straight 6.

I didn't see any cracks though I wasn't specifically checking that section of the unibody for them. I'll go back and check it out this weekend. So it isn't out of the realm of possibility that the TRW track bar went bad already. Based on the symptoms it seems like the most likely culprit though I was skeptical with it being relatively new. Unless there's something else that I'm obviously missing I'll see if I can get a replacement track bar. This one is LLT warranty anyway so it should be a simple swap.

I replaced what I think must have been the OE track bar just after I bought the '87, which was 2 yrs and 23K miles ago. The track bar was so bad that the bar fell off the ball stud and I had to remove the bracket and press the stud out in my press. Since that time I've replaced shocks, sway bar end links, upper & lower ball joints, lower control arm bushings, driver's side tie rod end, adjuster sleeve, and the corresponding tie rod end that hooks into the pass tie rod. Within the past 2 weeks I've noticed the front end becoming more unstable and it seems to be affected by everything (ruts, 18 wheelers passing by, etc). My first thought is that the track bar is wearing out again but it's a TRW that's only 2 yrs old. Does this seem right? Is there another explanation I'm missing?

The on on my '87 2.5L 2WD was unplugged (actually the connector had been cut off and was MIA) when I got her. The reason, as I discovered, was that particular IAC sticks and the truck became impossible to drive when it revved up and stuck (this happened in heavy traffic...not good). I unplugged it again, forced the IAC back in and it was driveable but would not idle when cold without a foot on the gas. It won't hurt the truck, it just won't idle when cold. I replaced it with a JY one a few weeks later and it's been fine ever since. They get disconnected when they die because the cost of a new one is rather high. I scored a complete AMC 2.5 TBI for $30 at Pick N Pull. If you find a Renix 2.5 grab the whole TBI system because a new injector is serious $$$ too.

Thanks for the P/N! Now to find one...

I called a few parts stores today and no one had a clue what I was talking about. Anyone know the name of this thing?

I found the mini shock absorber and it looks like it's been on there for 194K miles. What's the correct name for this part? Are replacements available?

The mounting bracket that bolts to the front of the cat is still there, in fact that seems to be exactly where the vibration stops. If you watch the exhaust pipe the front part (under the oil pan) shakes like crazy and it's forced to stop by the mount at the front of the cat. I can see where that constant vibration cracks the weld if the pipe starts to rot. Is there a shock absorber for the motor as well? The motor mounts themselves seem ok.

The first time this happened I chalked it up to age/mileage/rust. Then it happened again Fri. My exhaust system cracked and broke at the converter inlet weld flange (manifold side). The first time it happened the pipe broke completely so I scavenged another one from the jy. Granted I pulled it from a northern vehicle but it looked ok. Fri I heard rattling and, sure enough, the replacement pipe was cracked 1/2way through in the same spot. I attempted to weld the crack but the pipe was so thin I blew right through it. This time I decided to fix it once and for all. I dropped the system, cut the pipe off at the flange, ground it out, fitted a piece of 2" stainless exhaust pipe into the flange, and welded it. I took a 2" ID sleeve and welded the repaired flange on the front half of the exhaust. It should be ok now. I have 2 questions about this: 1. has anyone else had this problem? and 2. WTF?

Are you sure your PCV system works 100%? My 2.5 leaked oil out of every opening it had when I got it because the fresh air intake for the PCV was disconnected.

I tried this on my '96 Beretta and it was a royal PITA. The problem is not replacing the hub and bearing assy (yes, you will need the A/C clutch holder tool) rather it's trying to get the air gap correct when you reassemble it. I couldn't get the clutch to engage because of the air gap. Not sure if the alignment would be off far enough to affect the serpentine belt...I didn't let it run long enough to find out.

There are probably 1001 variations on how to slow rust but I'll tell you what worked for me when I lived up north. Assuming you don't want to replace doors, fenders, etc (if you could even find rust free ones) grind as much of the rust off as you possibly can. Shoot it with rust converter, let it dry, and follow that up with a helping of Bondo. When you repaint it it will last a lot longer than if you just ground it and/or hit it with rust converter. I had a perpetual rust bloom on the quarter panel of my old Pontiac 6000 that was too deep to grind out completely. Using this method the paint held until I sold the car...3 yrs later. My MJ came from up north but now I have access to rust free doors, fenders, etc, which is a nice change of pace.

I just added factory foglights to my '87 last weekend. The fog light connector under the dash has power and is ready to go. The connector under the driver's side headlight has 2 wires you'll need. A thicker red wire is constant power for the relay and there's a white wire with a green tracer that's attached to the switch in the dash (trigger for the relay). If you grab a donor harness you can splice the 2 of them together by disassembling the connector (each pin clips into the connector) and adding the contacts you need. The wiring to the fog lights consists of a green power feed and a black ground for each fog light. These go from the relay to the lights but you'll need to ground the black wire if you splice harnesses. Once I figured all this out it was actually fairly straightforward.

I put the Bosch pump on my '87 2.5 and it was definitely not a bolt in replacement. I had to modify the sending unit to make it fit. If I remember correctly I had to move the sending unit ground and a few other things around so I could move the retainer bracket up. It works ok though.